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Hi Gentlemen

Reading the Design Concept posting comments made me wonder, would the new '57 Packards with a vertical grille been a marketing hit?
Your opinions pro or con and why you think so.

Steve

I'd think it would have been about as bit a hit as the Edsel was - and for the same reason. That style wasn't yet in tune with the public's taste in design.

I think it might have made it. Even though battered and bruised, it was a Packard after all. The whole front end was, IMHO, so much more tastefully done than the Edsel. The rest of the car appeared low and long and relatively sleek which I think helped disguise the vertical.

It seems obvious to compare the proposed Packard design with the failed Edsel but the Edsel suffered from the public perception of it being an overpriced Ford. The Edsel center grill was derided by TV comedians at the time (I remember Red Skelton for one) but this was based more on the horse collar shape of the grill rather than the vertical stance of the grill. I think the proposed Packard design would have done better than the re-badged '57 Studebaker but then I like the bathtub Packards so what do I know?

Personally, I love the style of the proposed Seniors - like the '57 Four Hundred and '57 Caribbean.

Actually, the large vertical element of the front end is not a grille at all, but a more solid and fully-functional bumper that was styled to pay homage to the classic vertical grille of the past.

Others adopted such an appearance, but more successfully than the Edsel. The divided grille of the '59 Pontiac created a "beak" that would ultimately serve as a prominent hallmark for decades; for a few years, it was even a styling element of their front bumper. While the Edsel's grille just begged for many of the derogatory comparisons that it received, Packard's approach was much more tasteful - like the prow of a mighty ship. Perhaps '57 was just a year too soon for that look.

I would also have to admit that the proposed '57 styling might not have appealed to the public that had previously aspired to prewar Seniors. Of course, those people probably didn't like the '55-'56 V8 cars, either, but the times and markets were changing. I don't believe that Packard could have survived on the sale of vehicles that appealed only to the rich class. Packard was wise to look to the medium-priced field, but needed to further distinguish Junior from Senior.

Though it utilized the same greenhouse, S-P's shared body concept would have accomplished that with the proposed '57 Clipper.

I think this car would have competed favorably in the medium-priced field - though not just because it had s more traditional approach to the grille.

I can evision the basic '57 shells lasting into the early 1960s, with annual refinements.

IMO no, it was not inline with the tastes either of the time, which reached a zenith with Exner's beautiful Forward Look designs for 1957, nor would it have truly appealed to the 30s traditionalists: it was too much a pastische of conflicting design elements, the side view very heavy and slabby looking at the rear, the oddball basket-handle fins, the radical reverse slant roof, juxtaposed with the throwback grille (remember Jack Paar's comment about Edsel looking like an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon?) and Plymouth looking headlight visors, it just doesn't work together, imho, especially after the relatively conservative 56s. It'd integrate much better without fender skirts and the basket handles and a more contemporary grille. Dick Teague did a good job of updating the '51 bodies for '55 with what he had to work with, but some of his later work was less than stellar, again imo, just look at his weird'74 Matador coupe for AMC, and he had a major part in the design Pacer and Gremlin, and the bloated Marlin. His record was spotty. I'm glad Packard ended its run in 1956 all things considered.

To me, the proposed styling for the 57s was not an attractive design. A vertical grille treatment would not have improved its looks.

I think the vertical grille treatment on the "Request" was especially attractive for that body style. I would have liked to have seen the senior 1955 and 56 Packards with that front end styling to promote more difference between them and the Clippers. It might not have help the Company to survive, but what a beautiful car that would have been. Too bad the "Request" came in so late.

(o {} o)

I think it would have sold well. It did not look like the Edsel which faired poorly partly because of its name. What the H__L is an Edsel? You might as well have named it Ollie or Sven - it would have been ridiculed as much as Edsel. A Packard would still have been a Packard. And the Clipper name was good also. Some who liked the look of Chrysler products in 57 and forward, may not have appreciated it. I for one laughed at the fins stuck on that product. Different tastes for different folk. It is purely a matter of taste.

I think it would have been successful with a verticle grill. As previously mentioned, it is easy to automatically compare it to the flop of the Edsel. However, that was different. The public was promised an all new unlike anything else on the road car. And got a Ford with a horsecollar grill instead. Rather disappointing. The Edsel grill was less attractive and overall had more awkward front end styling than the proposed 1957 400. Plus several insiders at Ford wanted the Edsel killed. It's first year sales were actually not bad for an all new division.

Packard on the other hand had been getting requests for a return to the verticle grill since 1951. The 1955 Request was a response to those requests, and was received favorably. The 1957 400 would have been much closer to the Predictor than any other concept cars from other manufacturers were at that time. And the Predictor was well received. Prewar senior Packard buyers most likely ended up buying 1957-59 Cadillacs. So those were not any less flashy than the proposed 1957's from Packard.

The 1957 Clipper proposal on the hand, I think is ghastly. I do not think that would have sold over much better 1957 Buick, Olds, Mopar, Mercury designs.

Firedome--It is important to realize that Dick Teague never had had the deep pockets that a Virgil Exner (in whose styling department Dick worked after Packard, he arrived while Exner was recovering from his heart attack and left shortly after he came back) or a Harley Earl had, Dick was very creative in working around someone else's platform, underbody or whatever other crutch he was saddled with. As for those AMC products, the Gremlin, Pacer and other models were what the boss wanted, and what the marketing department dictated. They sold in the hundreds of thousands, so someone liked them enough to sign on the line.
I think that the vertical grille was a bit much, and another revolving example of how vestigial styling elements are thrown at "modern" (meaning current styles of the moment) by the marketing department or dealers--to whit: Vinyl tops. These began in the 60s, and on the square cars of that era were OK, they were really popular in the 70s and stuck around in the 80s as cars became even more boxier. Lincoln had those faux-convertible tops on the Town cars of that era. I thought that some of the more pleasing designs of the early 90s had been designed so that you couldn't put a vinyl roof on them, like the Chrysler LH cars. The dealers proved the stylists wrong, and did it anyhow, wheter it looked good or not. If there is money to be made, the dealer will do it.

Everything else about the '57 Packards pointed toward a contemporary automobile. The vertical grille is just the wrong shape on the right form, long and low--all horizontal motifs, the mode of the day. Had they been built I think they would have stood up well to the competition, I like the basket handle fin, although that would have been hell to manufacture. It stands out as different. One thing is for certain: a '57 Packard would have had a structurally superior body to any '57 Mopar product, that year began their entry into the dark ages of Chrysler body building, which lasted unitl Iacocca brought talent from Ford to tell them "you can't do it that way".

The history of American cars is dotted with these vestigial elements that won't go away fast enough, or when they should:
"Continental" bumps on Lincoln trunks
diecast "Portholes" on Buicks
Vinyl roofs on everything
chrome plated (plastic) "grilles" that resemble 1920s "form follows function radiator grilles/enclosures
Wooden artillery wheels--these persisted into the mid 1930s, long after the all-steel wheel was the way to go.

The oldtimers want something comfy that reminds them of the good ol' days. Ii have a lot of respect for a company that says "this is how a car should look NOW", like the Ford Tarus or the current Cadillacs. GM realized that if they wanted their product to appeal to someone ten years younger they better not make them all comfy-old-y, and for them it's working.